1. State of the art
2. Problems
With the units of today (FPGAs, DPGAs, etc.), synchronization of the configurable elements is usually based on the clock pulse of the unit. This type of time-controlled synchronization poses many problems, because it is often not known in advance how much time a task will require until a final result is available. Another problem with time-controlled synchronization is that the event upon which the synchronization occurs is not triggered by the element to be synchronized itself but instead by an independent element. In this case, two different elements are involved in the synchronization. This leads to much higher management overhead.
3. Improvement through the invention
This invention describes a method which makes it possible for the synchronization to be based on the elements to be synchronized themselves. Synchronization is no longer implemented or administered by a central instance. By making synchronization the responsibility of each element, many more synchronization tasks can be carried out at the same time, because independent elements no longer interfere with each other in accessing the central synchronization instance. The patent claims concern details and specific embodiments as well as features of the synchronization method according to this invention.